Erich Selheim , makers on these videos, has recorded versions of all the tracks (Rhino extras and all) of MAIT & TYM. He sent me copies. After seeing these videos I asked if he had done more such recordings. He has & is sending me copies of his versions of AF & GH!!. - yay!

I complimented Erich Selheim on his performances, how my lack of German meant I concentrated on & appreciated all the more the melodies & commented on my curiosity at how he managed to fit German versions of all those consonants into the tunes etc.

He answered -

Yes, I feel the same way about Elvis' songs; I've known them for decades, but re-recording the brilliant backing tracks makes me realise how many rhythmic and melodic details there are which I'd never really paid attention to.

Regarding my translations, I've tried to remain as literal as possible; but as you've guessed yourself, some compromises had to be made in order to keep the rhymes and the syllabic structure intact. As far as I could make them out, I even tried to use German puns where Elvis' original lyrics had English ones (though there would probably be precious few people in the world who'd appreciate this effort, as English-speaking listeners generally don't understand German, and German listeners generally don't speak enough English to understand Costello's wordplay). The biggest problem is: The English language has more one-syllable words than the German one, and thus you normally need less syllables to say something, so in translation it's often difficult to get the message across in the same space. "This Year's Girl", for example, would be translated into something like "Das Mädchen dieses Jahres" or "Das Mädchen des Jahres" - 3 syllables to 6 or 7. So I tried to find something shorter which would still catch some of the original's spirit: "Das Gesicht" ("The Face").

I complimented Erich Selheim on his earlier performances, how my lack of German meant I concentrated on & appreciated all the more the melodies & commented on my curiosity at how he managed to fit German versions of all those consonants into the tunes etc.

He answered -

Yes, I feel the same way about Elvis' songs; I've known them for decades, but re-recording the brilliant backing tracks makes me realise how many rhythmic and melodic details there are which I'd never really paid attention to.

Regarding my translations, I've tried to remain as literal as possible; but as you've guessed yourself, some compromises had to be made in order to keep the rhymes and the syllabic structure intact. As far as I could make them out, I even tried to use German puns where Elvis' original lyrics had English ones (though there would probably be precious few people in the world who'd appreciate this effort, as English-speaking listeners generally don't understand German, and German listeners generally don't speak enough English to understand Costello's wordplay). The biggest problem is: The English language has more one-syllable words than the German one, and thus you normally need less syllables to say something, so in translation it's often difficult to get the message across in the same space. "This Year's Girl", for example, would be translated into something like "Das Mädchen dieses Jahres" or "Das Mädchen des Jahres" - 3 syllables to 6 or 7. So I tried to find something shorter which would still catch some of the original's spirit: "Das Gesicht" ("The Face").

Yes, I love Trust; it has some of my all-time favourite Elvis songs (New Lace Sleeves, Pretty Words, You'll Never Be A Man, etc.). Currently I'm working on the next three albums simultaneously, but none of them are finished yet (I'm getting help by some friends for Almost Blue's steel guitar and Punch The Clock's brass section, and this kind of slows things down a bit).

I occasionally hear interesting versions of my songs. I only have knowledge of one mercenary cover — where I know for a fact that the producer of the record strong-armed the group into recording one of my songs. That was the Outlaws. I believe they've no interest at all in that track ("Miracle Man"), they're totally embarrassed by the fact that they were made to do it because it's so out of what they normally do. I only heard it for the first time very recently. - Elvis , 1985